Soul Sister 3:16

  Twenty-four hours, the length of each day.   That’s 1,440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds.   Say you sleep for 7.   Now you’re down to just 17 hours, or 1,020 minutes, or 61,200 seconds.   How will you spend them? They say you can discern what person values by how they spend their time. So, what are some of the things that make it to your list? Work/Money? Family? Meals? Your Health/Fitness? Relaxation/Enjoyment? How about God?   Is He part of your day? When God gave Moses the 10 commandments, one of them was, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) God meant it.   Yet, over and over the people of Israel put other things in their lives ahead of Him, and over and over again – that behavior caused His anger.   God loves nothing more than those who want to spend time with Him, and He loves it when we recognize His hand on our lives.   Thank you for taking time out of your day to read the blog today – because i...

L ast week while enjoying time in Hilton Head, I stayed at a condo with a full-length mirror.   One night as I was putting on my PJs, I got an unvarnished look at my naked self in the mirror.   Yikes! This year I am going to turn 60, however, just 10 short years ago, I was nearly 50 pounds thinner with a LOT more muscle mass.   Sure, I can blame the changes on aging – but it is more likely the result of too many cookies and unrestricted glasses of wine… That said, after seeing my reflection I decided to start my vacation days with some exercise.   The first day I headed to the gym before 8 only to find that it was empty.   So, I quickly claimed the elliptical machine and set the time to 45 minutes.   Forty-five minutes is a time I used to do effortlessly, however – within 5 minutes I was thinking, “No – that is NOT going to happen.” At 15 minutes I was sweating profusely – the water falling off my brow and making little rivulets on the base of the equ...

  My husband’s father has 7 children – and the relationship each of his children has with him is very, very different. I think that’s kind of the way it is with God. Some children see God as a lofty persona, a super-being who created the universe, but who is too busy/great/uncaring/preoccupied to care about them as individuals.   Their God must seem very passive. Others, see God as a judge.   An omnipotent being who sits on His throne and waits for them to make a mistake… I would think that sort of God causes fear and intimidation. Other children claim a relationship with God, but really know nothing about Him, and in truth have never made an effort to find out.   I feel like their God is a figment of their imagination. And there are some who only see the Father on Christmas or Easter, or maybe not at all... Their God is distant. The God I know is loving, caring, merciful, funny, and creative.   He loves it when I tell Him jokes (even though He’s hea...

  On Memorial Day we recognize the men and women who gave their lives in service to their country, as well as every military person (and their family) who serve each day knowing the risk.   I have known many people who have given themselves to protect our freedoms and way of life, and I am grateful for their service.   There is a saying I have often heard said in association with the day, “All gave some, some gave all.” Jesus gave all. Throughout his three-year ministry Jesus predicted his own death many times.   He knew that the things He was doing and saying were an affront to many of the religious leaders of the day, and that eventually, He would have to die in order to fulfill the words of Isaiah, written 700 years before Jesus’ birth. “ Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the  Lord  been revealed?   He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to att...

  A while back, the city of Las Vegas came out with an ad campaign that said, “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas”. In one commercial, a couple is standing at the front of a church.   She is obviously a bride, he is obviously a groom.   The minsters says, “If anyone present has reason to believe these two should not be wed, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”   At which point the groom gets a look of panic, one of the bridesmaids looks furtively around the room, groomsmen eye each other questioningly, two parents cast a knowing sideways glace toward one another, the photographer lowers his camera and raises his eyebrows while the bride gives a cursory shake of her head, before looking directly at another bridesmaid who is smiling. All the while the minister gazes from person to person before finally saying, “Well, okay, moving on…” The truth is A LOT of us have done things in our past that we’re not proud of – skeletons in our closet that might s...

  Nearly 3 months ago, God prompted me to start writing this blog.   In my first post I admitted I wasn’t sure whether it was for me, or others – but I was going to obey the prompting, and so I have. Some days I have had nearly 70 views on a post, other days, only 9.   I am not sure what causes the discrepancy – is it the title, the picture, the fact that on some posts those who read are sharing on their own stories…? I’ll admit I do not know.   I am a numbers girl (not a math girl), and this morning, my “BLOGGER STATS” show a total of 89 posts, and 15 comments.   So, I Googled, “Bible 89:15” to see what might be out there …”Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord” – Psalm 89:15 Miriam Webster says “acclaim” means – enthusiastic and public praise. I am smiling as I read that – because this blog is EXACTLY THAT…my attempt at enthusiastically and publicly praising God - my Lord, my savior, and my frie...

If you’ve been following my posts this week, you know that I am in Hilton Head, South Carolina. And, although we have been thoroughly enjoying our time there, yesterday we took a planned trip to Savannah, Georgia so we could participate in the “Taste of Savannah” walking tour. As part of the tour, we got to sample local foods from some of the city’s restaurants.   We had shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, a flaky roll made with pastry crust and sausage, a biscuit with pimento cheese and fried green tomatoes, a chicken empanada with a garlic and cilantro sauce, mojitos, and sweet tupelo honey.   Then, as if we hadn’t eaten quite enough, following the tour we stopped at a place for happy hour and 75 cent oysters… EVERY SINGLE THING we ate was delicious.   The combinations of flavors and the presentation of each “bite” a foodie like me – was fantastic.   More than once I think I remarked that I felt like the rat REMY, in the Disney movie Ratatouille! As we made our ...

  F.R.O.G. – is a mnemonic device that I was taught years ago in Sunday School.   It stands for - F irst R ely O n G od, and today I got a little reminder… While I am on vacation I am trying to exercise daily, and this morning I went on a bike ride, using one of the “beach cruisers” we’d rented.   However, rather than riding on the beach, I decided I’d take the bike paths.   For my journey I took my room key, my phone, and the second-hand earbuds my son, Max, recently gave me after I lost a pair of my own. As I began my ride though, I quickly decided that since the earbuds were NOISE CANCELING, that might not make them safe for riding trails shared by other bikers, so I decided to leave them in their case and in the bike basket. After traveling about 4.5 miles in one direction, I decided to head back toward our resort.   I took a couple of scenic detours on paths that led me through neighborhoods and parks.   Then, when I got about a mile from the res...

  There is an old story that goes something like this… Once a farmer was taking a walk along a path in the woods when he came across a large egg lying on the ground.   The egg was intact so he took the egg home and put it in the nest of one of his chickens.   The chicken sat on the egg until it hatched and when it did, the farmer was surprised to find the egg had housed an eagle. Well the eagle stayed in the pen with the chickens and he learned to do what chickens do.   Each day he’d wander about the pen, scratching at the ground, looking for corn or insects to eat.   As time passed the eagle grew older and one day, he saw a large bird soaring high above him gliding gracefully and majestically through the clouds.   “What’s that?” the eagle said, “I want to be like HIM!”   “Oh that?” replied the other chickens, “That’s an eagle, he is the king of all birds, master of the skies.   Don’t worry about him, you will never be like that.   ...

  I know, I know….they tell me that TikTok is owned by the Chinese Government and iFunny is owned by Russia; but if truth be told – I love them both.   I love the funny memes, I love the recipes, I love the little exercise tips…I love it all!   But, every so often I see something that makes me sit up and say, “huh…” Today was one of those days. I was surfing iFunny when I came across a video of an older man posing a question to a younger man.   The old man said, “What would you do if I gave you $1 Million dollars”.   The young man replied, “I would be really, really happy!” So, then the older man said, “And what would you do if I gave you $10 Million dollars?”   The younger man said, “Oh man, that would blow my mind, but I would be grateful.” The old man nodded and then asked, “Okay, but what if I told you the only way you could have the $10Million dollars was if you agreed that today was your last day alive.   Would you still want it?”   ...

  This morning I am sitting on a wide deck at a condo in Hilton Head Island, looking out at the marshland.   The tide here is amazing, rising and falling 10-12 feet a couple of times each day.   Right now, it is coming in, and it is happening so quickly I can actually SEE it rise.   “Let Heaven and Nature Sing,” is a line from the Christmas Carol, Joy to the World , and today I feel like nature is truly SINGING.   It is before 7am and the morning is quiet – yet I hear birds chirping, cicadas humming, frogs burping, and little marsh creatures clicking.   And as I sit here listening to the cacophony of sounds from the marsh, I am reminded of the Bible story in the book of Luke that tells of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem… “ When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:   ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the na...

Did you ever notice that Jesus is ALWAYS at the beginning of things? We are told that Jesus (the Word) was there are the beginning of the universe. We recognize HIS birth at the start of our A.D. timeline. And for those of us who believe in Him, the day we made that choice, was a new beginning in our own lives. 5/21/15 was a big day for me.   I had readied myself for a long-postponed talk with my (now ex) husband.   And though I say “talk”, the truth was I had written him a letter, because at that time our marriage had dissolved to the point where we didn’t even really talk anymore. The letter was a suggestion from my friend, Cari Zupko.   It told my ex that that I was unfulfilled – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.   I said after decades of going to church with him, I didn’t feel any connection to God.   I told him that I had put my relationship with him before my relationship with God and I wanted to go to a new church.   I told...

  Back in the 80’s (or maybe it was the early 90’s) Orbit Gum ran a series of commercials that featured a woman who looked like she’d just stepped off the set of an Austin Powers movie, commenting on people who had said or done or something that had left their mouths filthy.   The commercials always ended with her saying, “DIRTY MOUTH? CLEAN IT UP – WITH ORBIT!” Today I thought about those commercials - and Jesus. When I first started on my Christian journey – I attended a class at Northridge Church called STARTING POINT.   The class featured videos and discussion points put together by a pastor named Andy Stanley.   On week 6 of the class, the discussion turned to the topic of GRACE. As part of that week’s lesson, we watched a short film that brought me to tears.   The film is about 14 minutes long, and is about a girl who left her family home, then proceeded to make a number of bad choices in her life until finally – using drugs, having sex for money, ...

This morning I asked God what he wanted me to write about, and ROAD ENCOUNTERS popped into my brain…?!?! Well – okay, so now what? (NOTE:   Everything I write after this is “God inspired”, and I’m writing just as I’m feeling it) Even though we all spend a LOT less time on the road than we did before the pandemic of 2020, I would argue that we still spend a lot of time traveling between place to place.   And, if you’re like me, a lot of that time is usually spent in a state of “highway hypnosis,” a condition where the miles just seem to pass by without much recollection of what happened between point A and point B.   If I heard Him correctly this morning, God wants us to focus more on what happens in that space, because important things can happen when we’re on the road. First, He wants you to know that HE SEES YOU THERE… Luke 19 tells a story of Jesus passing through the land of Jericho.  A tax collector named Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was but because...

  You know, as Christians, sometimes I feel like we believe SIN is graded on a curve, and as long as we are at the midpoint or above, we are somehow BETTER than others and DESERVING of Heaven.  I don’t believe that’s true. Yesterday, I asked Max if he would watch the movie, “The Jesus Revolution” with me.   It’s free on Amazon Prime and I thought it was worth watching.   The movie tells the story of three separate people, Charles Smith – the minister of a flagging church, Lonnie Frisbee – a hippy, whose message brought many to Christ, and Greg Laurie – a teenage kid who experimented with drugs then later founded Harvest Church in California. Max, being the inquisitive kid he is, started Googling the various people while we were watching the movie and at one point he said, “You know mom, Lonnie Frisbee died from AIDS.”   This morning I checked on that – and do you know what?   It appears it might be true.   Apparently, as part of his early testi...

Over the weekend I watched a docu-drama called “The Rescue”.   Maybe you remember the story – when back in 2018, twelve members of a Vietnamese soccer team and their coach were all trapped in a cave that was filling up with water.   Nine days after their parents called the police to report them missing, the boys were found deep in the cave nearly 2.5 miles from the entrance. Because of the conditions, and the fact that a round trip to the boys and back took over 11 hours, there were three options for getting them out: Teach the boys to swim out with scuba gear Leave them with enough supplies to hopefully make it until the monsoon rains stopped approximately 4 months later – meanwhile, hoping the rising waters didn’t drown them all. Sedate the boys and drag them out. In the end, it was the third option that was chosen.   The problem was – who was going to do it?!?! If you do a little Google research on CAVE DIVING you’ll learn that some experts estimate as few ...